Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Family medicine residents at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine will receive additional training on caring for the mental and behavioral health needs of children, adolescents and young adults after the university received a nearly $2.3 million federal award.
The grant is a five-year award from the Health Resources and Services Administration. With it, the Boonshoft School of Medicine will establish new training experiences for family medicine residents with community partners, like with psychiatrists at Dayton Children’s. Faculty in the departments of family medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry will collaborate in the training program.
The training will focus on mental and behavioral health problems, including substance use disorders, suicide prevention, trauma-informed care, and the effects of abuse and gun violence on young people.
“On a national level, there’s really an inadequate number of clinicians to address the mental and behavioral health needs of children, adolescents, and young adults,” said Dr. Paul Hershberger, associate dean for research affairs and professor and director of behavioral health in the Department of Family Medicine.
About a third of the patients that family doctors manage have psychiatric needs, said Dr. Peter Reynolds, associate professor and director of the Family Medicine Residency Program. The common conditions include depression and anxiety. Reynolds said a number of patients also typically have past trauma impacting their well-being and health, both physically and mentally.
